US Immigration from Chile

What has been other's experience when entering the US with your spouse when one is a US citizen and other is foreign visitor -- which line during border control have you all gone in and what has been your experience? Both in US Residents line? Both in Vistors line? Separate?

I have seen mixed messaing about this (only US citizens/residents in US line, but also keep families together, etc.), and even have received mix messaging at the airport.

Our story, we live in Chile and were visiting my family in the US, we were the last in line at border control (had to clean up a baby and a toddler after long flight), and we asked someone that looked like he was directing people where to go -- which line we should go in (with US citizen and foreign spouse). He told us to all go in the US citizen line to keep family together. We do that, we arrive at the control and the agent procedes to chew us out, saying my wife isn't a citizen, she shouldn't be in this line etc., I explain that is what we were instructed to do. She then later is pretty rude, and instead of telling my wife that they will do additional screening just asks her "Do you want the baby or do you want to hand it to your husband", we had to ask why and then she told us.

THEN just some lovely contridictory nature of the CBP, she gets to the secondary screening....this agent is very friendly and relaxed, and asks her if she had a green card in the past, she said she did and she officially abandoned it two years ago...and he asks her "why? You should have just kept the green card." Just telling us to commit fraud (keeping a green card while obviously residing in another country). Didn't ask her anything else and let her through.

So yah know....the only consistent thing is the inconsistancy.

Didn't see a thread for June yet, so I will start one (though let me know if I missed it).

We were married back in 2017, already went through the K-1 visa process and my wife got her green card, we lived in the US for 2 years and then for family reasons moved back to Chile. Now with two kids with us we are looking to move back state-side. Yay Round 2!

Filed on June 4th online, recieved the Reciept Notice the same day and based on that document it looks like it will be processed in Virginia. I assume this is NOT the same as the official NOA1? I suppose that will come in the mail?

I am filing the I-130 for my wife, we both live in Chile. For the section where it asks "Was the beneficiary EVER in the United States?", should I put her most recent entry into the US (this year, with B-2 visa) or her previous immigration to the US? I had petitioned her early in 2017 through K-1 visa, she came to the US, we got married, got her green card, but then in 2019 we moved back to Chile.

I ask because it later asks information about visa type etc., and I am just wondering if we should put her B-2 visa information or previous K-1 visa information.

Hello!

Many thanks to all those who have shared tips/tidbits from their visa journey!

Question: does anyone have experience with the Santiago, Chile embassy for K1 interviews? My finance is Chilean and his interview will be coming up sometime this year (hopefully) and we want to be as prepared as possible. Specifically, we're interested in timing of scheduling the interview post NOA-2, scheduling of the medical exam, and the overall interview experience. Any commentary is greatly appreciated!

-Mary

I tried finding a recent thread with more complete information about options and procedures when both US citizen and their spouse live overseas (since the guide seems to be out-of-date), so I apologize if this has been discussed recently.

Our case: married 5 years, 2 kids (US Citizens), live in Chile, looking to move back to the US (wife actually had a green card before we moved to Chile)

From what I understand:

- DCF now is only available for certain circumstance (emergencies, military, job relocation?)

- If I apply with the I-130 I can't apply with DCF

- If we don't qualify for DCF we need to apply for a IR1 like normal (seems can be done online now), and is taking 18-24 months it seems like

- For the form I-864 affadavit of support, I won't have domicile, but I would be able to show intent (I have an active bank account in the US, drivers license, can show job applications, pontetially could register kids for school if needed), plus for the monetary side my parents to joint-sponsor without any issue. With all of that I assume it shouldn't be an issue.

Can anyone confirm or deny any of my assumptions above? Or if there is some other key I am missing.

Also my big question is if anyone has had sucess with the DCF with a job relocation exception? I could probably land a job in the US, with a start date and could try that route, and does seem like it would be faster. But I am nervous that the time it takes to be ready to move, get a job, process time of the DCF, etc. could be wasted if it doesn't work and then I lose all the wait time when I then have to apply for the I-130.

Thanks!